Farm Security

ZetorShaun · Feb 25, 2009

I have been caught sleeping I guess. My third barn faces away from the house. An unknown subject went in and slashed all the tires on my Kawasaki Mule, dumped out all my petrol, oil, and lubricants, tried to start a fire which thankfully must have put itself out, and likely harassed (by throwing rocks at him) my dog who was inside the barn in his kennel. My spouse was at a concealed weapons permit class at the time of the vandalism.

I fenced the southeast corner of my 100 acres, the only portion not fenced with woven wire. My neighbor kept harassing me, torn down my posted signs and stole lots of T-posts. My neighbor was also killing deer off his back porch on my property and I would find the bodies in my fields (poor shot). Three times I caught his son with several other kids playing paintball in my woods and told them to leave. Once I caught them twice in one day, took pictures, and called the sheriff who does not respond to trespassing complaints, the county prosecutor would not do anything about it. He calls me and swears at me, blah, blah, blah. I know this was his son.

I am in the active duty Army in Iraq. This is what I am doing:

I am going through my bank, USAA, we will put in an ADT system in the house with a sensor at every window and door that are easy to get to.
$1000.00

I am going to get the garage door installed in one barn, and that way we can lock the one barn. Move my high dollar items to that one, heavy, low cost things to the other. $3500.00

I am getting three infra red motion sensor game cameras. One for the most likely path leading to my house from theirs, one facing the barn, and one facing down my driveway. They will be hidden and difficult to spot, they will be infrared so no flash. Maybe a fourth somewhere. $900-1200.00

I am going to have the power company install a big street lamp on our utility pole that will automatically come on at dusk and shut off at dawn and be paid on our electric bill. ($?)

I will install motion lights on each barn front and back. $200-300.00

We may be getting a second dog. $Millions

The home door locks will be replaced by bump proof locks with double keyed deadbolts. $1500.00

What else can I do? I am trying to do this from Iraq which makes this even more frustrating. I am out here, even today, seizing machine guns and home made explosives, and the sheriff will not protect my family.

I emailed the State Patrol, I was a State Trooper in SC prior to the war, I thought they could at least send a Trooper to check out the situation. The sheriff handled all the past incidents over the phone!!!(I called them 2 times, once over the stolen t-posts, and the other the above mentioned trespass). The are not a professional agency.

I do not want to take action that will be counter-productive and instigate more incidents before I get my physical security measures in place. I go on leave in April, so I can only try to make things better.

What other things should/can I do? What type of game cameras? Price is not a concern. Thanks for your comments.

capi75rs · Feb 25, 2009

Da#n, I wish you were in Central IL and I'd take a shift watching you place while your away. I think you have the correct idea with the lights and cameras. I LOVE MY GERMAN SHEPPARD for a reason

I'd also let the local sheriff dept. know that your not happy with their actions by placing a complaint in the local paper. Thank you for your service. Also when it comes to installing all these items you can see if the local VFW or the Patriot Guard will assist in labor. We love to take care of our own.

DennisArrow · Feb 25, 2009

Shaun.......Bless YOUR soul and may God take care of you.

The sheriff is obviously, a useless entity in this case. Are you new to this town, county, area? These guys doing the damage, part of the good ol boy system? If so, it is pretty much a take care of you by yourself unless a murder or barn burning actually happens.

A proactive approach does work. Might I suggest a video camera or two, even the phony ones work; but one that comes on with a motion sensor would be handy. Signage about tresspassing works. Yes, a civil court case works about harassment. This is where video and pictures would be handy.

Claymores, drums of phoo gas, and trip wires hooked to flares also work. If you have paint ball war games going on in the woods with a "son" and his buddies they probably welcome all of this as good clean fun...........

God Bless YOU BUD..............Dennis

Q-Saw · Feb 25, 2009

I like Dennis' suggestion of phony surveilance cameras. I would put some in very visible areas, and then also hide the real cameras. If the jerks aren't deterred by the phony cameras, they may try to "disable" them and think they're getting away with something. Meanwhile, you catch them on the real cameras. Some of the phony units have red LED lights on them and they oscillate like real cameras, but much cheaper.

If you find more dead deer, I would contact a conservation officer. Around here I understand they don't need a search warrant to go into someone's house or property if they suspect a violation.

You may also look into those wireless "driveway alarms". A friend of mine uses them to alert him to game movement through the woods, but I'm sure they could be set up for fencelines, building perimeters, etc.

I wish I could help more.

Thank you for your service - God Bless You.

- Marty

Ridgewalker · Feb 25, 2009

Yet another reason I detest that profession, cops that is. I have learned the hardway they aren't there to help you.

It's a shame you can't just shoot a thief. Here's the video, your caught, bang! End of problem.

MarkV · Feb 25, 2009

Sorry to hear of all the problems. It must be terrible to have to worry about the wife while you are away.

I sure would be documenting every incident. What happened, photo's, when you called the sheriff's office, what the response was, any threats the neighbor made, ect. It is hard to believe the sheriff's office would not respond and make a report of an attempted arson. That would get me going.

Have you contacted your county commissioner to complain about the non response from the sheriff's office? I would bet a letter to the editor of the paper saying something like, 'I'm in Iraq serving my country and our sheriff will not respond to arson attempts at my property, what should I do?' would get some people talking. Might also cause a future problem with the sheriff though.

Stay safe, and thanks for your service.

MarkV

forgeblast · Feb 25, 2009

My first suggestion is always go over their heads. The sherrif, needs a wake up. Go to the newspaper and report that the sherrif is not helping an active duty veteran. Call your representative ask how the sherrif is earning his money by not doing his job. Rattle as many cages as you can....I would even email the DA, and Attorny General of your state and list what is happening. You need piece of mind at home, when you are so far away from home.
1. Ir camera good choice no flash, just put them up high enough that they would need a ladder to get them down.
make sure they are the same so that you can use the same memory card in them...a lot use the SD cards that are in cameras.
Good luck stories like this make me boil. But when that happens i let every elected offical know what is going on....someone makes an inquest and then things happen. Editorals in the paper, or even one supportive reporter can make all the difference.
Stay safe,
Forgeblast

2manyrocks · Feb 25, 2009

I don't think I caught where this is going on. Do you have any idea why these people are harassing you?

Call your local Congressman's office, tell them you are in Iraq and ask to speak to one of his staff and explain that this stuff is going on and your local Sheriff won't give you the time of day. Ask if they can help your family. They ought to at least give the Sheriff a call and ask what gives.

Johnbud has a thread on IR cameras because of trespassing neighbors. I had the impression that a decent game camera could be had for $99.00.

ZetorShaun · Feb 25, 2009

Thanks fellas. I am done with the sheriff issue, I am not going to waste my time. It is not a productive avenue to pursue.

Where I am going: I just wanted recommendations on what else to do on my own in addition to the steps I was taking. I read Johnbud's excellent thread and got some ideas on camera placement but can't find any good camera recommendations on a specific make/model. I am just going to get the Moultrie 5.0 Outfitter Camera with Infrared Flash at Cabelas delivered.

These people are just scumbags from Pittsburgh. I put up the fence and asked them not to trespass anymore, their position is that privately held farmland is "public land" and I am unreasonable. I moved my posted signs 100 meters back from the fenceline and moved the fenceline back at their request in a few spots because they cleared some of my land and planted grass. I have made concessions where I could and paid for a survey of our boundary and had 5 new pins placed, they advised me that they would shoot my horses if they came close to they fenceline but my horses don't go out into the woods. Their son also ripped open seals on my spring house and filled it with branches, I know this because he told me he did it last time I told him to leave my property. I am just glad he didn't fall in and get injured then sue me, it is deep and half full of water.

My wife emailed pics and the Mule is trashed, many wires cut, seat cut up, etc.

This is also something of a rant because I don't want to give my spouse grief and there is nothing I can do about all this right now. I guess I will not be getting a BX25, the money is now being diverted to security. Thanks for the outlet for my frustration.

Tororider · Feb 25, 2009

2manyrocks said:
I don't think I caught where this is going on. Do you have any idea why these people are harassing you?

Call your local Congressman's office, tell them you are in Iraq and ask to speak to one of his staff and explain that this stuff is going on and your local Sheriff won't give you the time of day. Ask if they can help your family. They ought to at least give the Sheriff a call and ask what gives.

Johnbud has a thread on IR cameras because of trespassing neighbors. I had the impression that a decent game camera could be had for $99.00.

I agree that calling your congressman/woman might be a good way to go. They can put some pressure on le agencies and would probably love the opportunity to attach their name to helping an active duty veteran and therefore be willing to have some staff members spend some time on this.

You may also want to look at a surveillance system like is available at stores like costco, sometimes they run them on sale.

Costco - $799.99 after $700 OFF Q-See 16 CH H.264 DVR with Mobile Phone Surveillance

A couple of the wireless driveway alarms in high traffic areas might work as well as the game cameras hidden in areas to far to wire cameras.

I would also find out what the local laws are for shooting a trespasser, heehee. But seriously posting trespassers will be shot or something might make them think about it a litte, although with these guys it doesn't sound like it.

Good luck and thank you for your service.